Hardware Implementation of a Flexible Tag Platform for Passive RFID Devices

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology has emerged from a simple identification technique towards the enabler for more sophisticated applications like advanced data storage and proof of origin. Even so-called passive RFID tags that receive their power from a radio-frequency field tend to implement more functionality which leads to increased control complexity on them. Current low-cost tags are implemented by hardwired state machines which are inflexible and also inefficient when control complexity increases. In this work, we present a flexible tag platform that is based on a simple 8-bit microcontroller optimized for low chip area and low power consumption. We demonstrate the efficiency of our approach by implementing a near-field communication (NFC) compatible tag with advanced file-access functionality and security features in hardware. Results show that the power consumption of the microcontroller is below 10 μA at 106 kHz and that the control part of the flexible tag platform requires a chip area of 10 kGEs making it suitable for low-cost RFID devices.